US Regulators Accuse Google of Underpaying Female Workers

Labor News

Reprinted from The New York Times by the Associated Press on April 7, 2017.

Government investigators looking into how Google pays its employees have accused the tech giant of shortchanging women doing similar work to men.

A US Department of Labor official disclosed the agency’s allegations during a Friday court hearing in San Francisco.

“We found systemic compensation disparities against women pretty much across the entire workforce,” Janette Wipper, a Labor Department regional director, testified, according to a report published by The Guardian.

Google said it vehemently disagreed with the charges, which the Mountain View, California, company said it hadn’t heard until Wipper’s court appearance. …

The company says it conducts “rigorous analyses” that its pay practices are gender-blind. It says analysts who calculate suggested pay don’t have access to employees’ gender data. Google says it analyzed 52 major job categories last year and found “no gender pay gap.” …